Our Water

On May 2, 2016, The City of Newburgh declared a State of Emergency due to the discovery of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) in Silver Stream and Washington Lake. You can find the City’s press release by clicking here. Our City Manager, Mr. Ciaravino, acted to preserve public health and safety and immediately order that our water supply be switched from Washington Lake to Brown’s Pond. After doing this and assuring that our community was drinking the cleanest water available to us he rescinded the order the next day. Click here to read the full release.

Between the declaration, rescinding of the State of Emergency, and subsequent weeks our City has gone through lots of unnecessary drama – which I will not repeat except to say that I applaud Mr. Ciaravino for bringing this matter to everyone’s attention.

So here is what you do need to know:

On May 19, 2016, the EPA released its new standards for emergent contaminants including PFOS. Previous standard declared 200 parts per trillion as the threshold while the new standards for drinking water established by the EPA limits PFOS to 70 parts per trillion (City of Newburgh had been trending between 140-180 parts per trillion below the 2012 standard but not the May 2016 standard). You can read the EPA’s new health advisory by clicking here.

As of May 22, 2016, the City of Newburgh continues to draw its drinking water from Brown’s Pond and water conservation measures are still in place. The Executive and Legislative branches of our municipality continue to work with state and federal partners to resolve this matter and assure that our watershed is protected and that our residents have the best quality of water we deserve.

You can find the 2015 Water Quality report here. Reports from previous years can be found here.

NYS Health Department Announces dates and locations for blood testing for City of Newburgh residents.

Free Tests Will Provide Information on Exposure to PFOS

Albany, N.Y. (October 17, 2016) – New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, together with US Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, today announced dates for initial blood testing for City of Newburgh residents with concerns about their past exposures to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and other perfluorinatedchemicals (PFCs) from the City’s drinking water.

The first blood tests will be held at the Cornerstone Family Healthcare locations at 147 Lake Street and 290 Broadway in Newburgh on the following dates:

147 Lake Street, Newburgh

Tuesday, November 1;

Wednesday, November 2;

Thursday, November 3;

Saturday, November 12;

Saturday, November 19.

290 Broadway, Newburgh

Monday, November 7;

Thursday, November 10.

Blood tests will be scheduled first for residents who expressed interest in participating in testing at public meetings or contacted the Department of Health (DOH). Interested residents are strongly encouraged to pre-register for an appointment by calling 518-402-7950 or emailing BEOE@health.ny.gov. Day, evening, and weekend appointments are available and more dates will be added based on demand and feedback from the community.